The present invention relates to a method for determining the charge drawn by an energy storage battery, and for monitoring devices and computer programs for carrying out such a method.
During operation of batteries (e.g., lead-acid energy storage batteries for use in vehicle starting, lighting, and ignition applications) it is advantageous to determine the instantaneous state of the energy storage battery and to predict a future state with assumed environmental and battery state conditions. In this case, it is also desirable to determine the charge which is drawn in the charging mode.
It is known for the to measure battery current continuously during the operating life of the energy storage battery for this purpose. The charge flowing into the energy storage battery and the charge drawn from the energy storage battery can be calculated from the converted current, and the state of charge can be determined by balancing these factors.
It is also known for the change in the state of charge by an energy storage battery to be determined by means of mathematical models, such as equivalent circuits.
One disadvantage of this method is that the battery current must be measured. Particularly for starter batteries with relatively high starter currents, this is highly complex.
It would be advantageous to provide an improved method for determination of the charge drawn by an energy storage battery, by means of which the amount of charge drawn by the energy storage battery during the charging mode can be determined as accurately as possible and with little measurement complexity, without measuring the battery current. It would also be advantageous to provide a monitoring device which has computation means for carrying out such a method. It would further be advantageous to provide a computer program to carry out the method described above. It would be advantageous to provide any one or more of these or other advantageous features.